George Pickens

On Saturday night, however, it was Mason Rudolph not rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett who threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to rookie receiver George Pickens, a ...

In the past, some have said that having Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback helped make young receivers look better. Pittsburgh has shown for more than a decade an uncanny skill when it comes to drafting great receivers, in any round. Pickens has created plenty of hype, which isn’t easy for any player to do in an old-school training camp that focuses heavily on team.

Surely the Pittsburgh Steelers would've hoped that the star of their 2022 training camp would be Kenny Pickett or maybe even an improved Mitchell Trubisky.

The Steelers’ spidey senses were tingling, and they saw a former five-star recruit with all of the athletic tools necessary to help work on this post-Roethlisberger offense. The wide receiver factory that started with John Stallworth and Lynn Swann just keeps on pumping out talent. He would return to the field before the end of Georgia’s national championship season, but only caught five passes in four games. He didn’t bench press at the combine, and his hands measured at 8 ¾ inches. In the Steelers’ preseason opener, both played well with Pickett of course getting the majority of the snaps as the No. 2 quarterback. On Saturday it just happened to be at Acrisure Stadium against the Seattle Seahawks instead of a muggy Tuesday at Saint Vincent College. Of his three catches, one was a toe-tapper in the back of the end zone for touchdown, but his highlight of the day was a pancake block that Hines Ward might be playing on repeat until the regular season begins.

It's what you didn't see the Steelers rookie do that provides optimism for long-term success, even if it comes later in his rookie year.

He was already a first-rounder in rookie-only drafts, but he's much closer to fifth overall now. You can't cut him if he gets off to a slow start against the Bengals, Patriots and Browns, three defenses that have the talent not only to disrupt him, but also his quarterback. Ahead of Claypool (who, frankly, would offer some interesting value if he fell considerably past Pickens), and ahead of Freiermuth (who, frankly, would offer even more interesting value than Claypool). It's a much brighter outlook in keeper leagues. PITTSBURGH – Plenty of players shine in preseason games, but only a fraction matter once the season gets going. And it's not like the Steelers shy away from using first-year wideouts.